In 1910, French artist Villemard produced a series of illustrations depicting what life might be like in the year 2000.

While you can see a wide range of the artist's predictions in this Flickr set, the above image, of an architect and his robotic construction crew, seemed worth highlighting.

In an article published last summer in Icon, called "The Robot and the Architect are Friends," Will Wiles wrote that Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler "have a vision: architecture using robotics to take command of all aspects of construction. Liberated from the sidelines, the profession would be freed to unleash all its creative potential—all thanks to its obedient servants, the robots. But first, architects must learn the robots’ language."

It all sounds deceptively easy at first: the architects have merely to program their robotic arm "to pick up a brick and place it, and then to repeat the process with variations. When this program runs, the result is a wall."

The machine itself moves with the clipped grace we associate with robotics, performing neat, discrete actions that contain within them an assortment of fluid swivels and turns. These quick-slow, deliberate movements are hypnotic. It’s beautiful to watch but, because it moves in a way that looks animal while being unlike anything we know in nature, there’s something in it that’s inescapably unnerving.

Nonetheless, some combination of Villemardian enthusiasm—airborne tennis!—with rigorous architectural robotics, and perhaps even with emerging new brick designs and a new generation of 3D printers, is an enticing vision to pursue for the future of building construction.